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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Guilty until proven Innocent

This link :http://mikemadden59.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/dont-get-hurt/ was sent to me by one of my fellow union brothers. Mike Madden paints the picture of a blanket policy designed to scare brother firefighters into being safety sallys. (I doubt it will work) While I have no background on the policy, and it doesn't concern me, for some reason I felt I had to respond to this post. I agree with what Mike says in his blog completely.

At first glance, it seems as though the admin is cracking down on over aggressive firemen, and maybe that is the theory behind this memo. But after you read the whole post and run through the memo, all this is appears to be a blanket approach to an isolated problem. Sure there are firefighters in every department that take it too far and do stupid things. But there are plenty of firefighters that do their job and get burned innocently. I am an advocate for safety, but I am also a Fireman, not a safety sally, a Fireman. If you are part of an aggressive department I am sure you have been burned, maybe not burn center treatment burned, but burned. I know I have had a few burns myself, none serious, but I've had them. If someone is being overagressive, address that problem at the CO level or the BC level, there isn't a need for policy change. Fix in the house.
So now if I get a burn on my face on neck in Philly, I am detailed to the Training Academy to be taught about donning my PPE, and my PPE evaluated. Really????? I guess they have no faith in their members or company officers. So instead of dealing with the problem let's just make everyone scared to be aggressive. I am sure the brothers in Philly will just continue with business as usual, and take their lumps if they get burned.

Policies like this give safety a bad name. We can be aggressive and safe all at the same time, and as Mike says in his post, we know our job is inherently hazardous. This completes my rant for the day.........Until the next time stay safe and stay trained.

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About Me

I am an Engine man through and through and always will be. I have been in the fire service for 10 years and at work I'm a company officer. I feel strongly that health, safety, and wellness is an all too often neglected topic in our profession so what better way to promote it than a meaningless blog like this. Thanks for reading the blog. Please send me the comments so I at least know someone is reading....

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